COVID-19 Knowledge of Frontliners in Cagayan: A Cross-Sectional Study
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Abstract
The CoViD-19 pandemic has undeniably paralyzed our health care system, where frontliners are the first group to be seriously impacted by the CoViD-19 pandemic as they are considered to be the key players in this battle. This research was undertaken in order to determine the knowledge of frontliners on CoViD-19. This descriptive-correlational research surveyed three hundred eighty-four (384) randomly selected hospital and community frontliners working in the government hospitals and local government units in the province of Cagayan, Philippines. Respondents, including Medical Doctors, Nurses, Medical Technologists, Respiratory Therapists, Radiologic Technologists, Midwives, Ambulance Crew, Janitors, Security Guard, members of the Barangay Health Emergency Response Team were interviewed through a phone-assisted survey. Results showed that frontliners have high knowledge on the CoViD-19 virus’ modes of transmission as well as its prevention; oddly, they had a moderate level of knowledge in terms of the disease's clinical manifestations. Counterintuitively, results of Mann-Whitney U test showed that respondents' knowledge on clinical manifestations is significantly higher for non-allied health (U = 14534.5, p = .001) than allied health frontliner. Hence, it is strongly advised that ongoing research into the disease's clinical manifestations be pursued in order to gain clarity and a deeper understanding of the disease algorithm, which would strengthen the CoViD-19 protocols.